Theories Behind Missing Flight 370 Fuel Web Chatter

KUALA LUMPUR—Investigators involved in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 haven’t outlined specific theories about what might have happened to the ill-fated plane, which vanished from radar screens March 8.

Screenshot of Flyertalk website

Flyertalk is one of many online aviation forums where people are posting theories about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

But pilots and aviation buffs the world over are sharing plenty of musings about the Boeing 777’s disappearance through tweets, Facebook posts, blogs and online forums — for better or worse.

The last time such a large commercial flight went missing – when Air France Flight 447 plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 – Twitter was in its relative infancy, and Facebook had only been widely available for a few years.

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One popular online forum for aviation professionals is the long-running Professional Pilots Rumor Network, or PPRuNe, an anonymous bulletin board that allows its nearly 395,000 members to ruminate on subjects such as pilot salaries, aviation history, flying in locations like Africa and Canada, and more. People offer theories, opinions and debunk various rumors offered on the site and elsewhere.

A discussion thread titled “Malaysian Airlines MH370 contact lost” that started soon after Flight 370 disappeared has so far drawn more than 9 million views and more than 600 replies, in which people have offered their views on the jet’s current location, the pilot’s potential actions in the cockpit, and more.

PPRuNe’s administrator, a working pilot who asked not to be named, told The Wall Street Journal that the site was created to open communication channels between aviation professionals, such as air traffic controllers, engineers, and pilots, despite employment contracts that prohibit them from making public comments.

“By the very nature of the job,” pilots “don’t have those water cooler and canteen moments other workers share,” the administrator said, which helps explain why the site has become so popular.

The Flight 370 thread has been “very busy,” the administrator said, adding that he has had to disable new site registrations over the last 24 hours due to an influx of curious “amateur sleuths,” non-aviation professionals who want insight into what professional pilots think happened to Flight 370.

Pilots have also taken to forums like Airliners.net and Flyertalk to communicate, and have been posting commentary on Facebook and Google Plus, the search giant’s social media platform. Some pilots and aviation buffs have even posted their own theories on blogging services like Tumblr.

No one is certain when the plane will be found, but the longer Flight 370 stays missing, the more theories are likely to be proposed and knocked down.

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